Why Starmer’s inheritance tax raid risks fuelling a mental health crisis among farmers! B
Lofty rules, wet weather and now the Chancellor’s tax raid – the fate of family farms and the wellbeing of a community hangs in the balance
Richard Heady, 37, hoped to pass the family farm down to his children, just as his parents, grandparents and great-grandparents did before him.
For more than a century, his family have farmed the same 1,000 acres of land near Milton Keynes, tending to fields of wheat, barley, beans and oats, and raising cattle. But in the wake of Labour’s controversial tax raid on farmers, the future he imagined – and has worked all his life to achieve – is at risk.
“We are looking at losing 20 per cent of the farm per generation,” Heady says. “It’s not going to be a viable business – the size of the farm really makes a difference to your economies of scale and whether you can make a living off it. To lose it to inheritance tax is a massive blow.”
For some farmers, this tax grab is the final straw, plunging those already toiling under arduous conditions into outright despair. Tragically, one farmer has already taken his own life as a result, according to his family. John Charlesworth, 78, was found dead at his 70-acre farm in Barnsley, Yorkshire, a week ago, having been “eaten away” by the prospect of losing the estate, his son Jonathan, 46, told The Telegraph. The incident, which took place 24 hours before the Budget, came amid febrile speculation over Labour’s plans.
Those already feeling the pressure have been advised to reach out to one of the numerous charities set up to support the mental health of farmers and other rural workers, such as Yellow Wellies and the Farming Community Network (FCN). But as Wilson says, “ultimately, talking is not going to pay a £1 million tax bill. Farmers are at breaking point.”
The crisis was triggered by Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ maiden Budget last week, which set out plans to scale back agricultural relief on land and assets valued at more than £1 million, meaning inheritors will have to pay 20 per cent of a farm’s value in inheritance tax. For many, this could spell the end of the family farm.
Rebecca Wilson, 29, is a fifth-generation sheep and arable farmer in Yorkshire. She is among the tens of thousands of agricultural workers up and down the country now grappling with the fallout.
“The Budget is a complete U-turn on what we were promised,” she says, citing Sir Keir Starmer’s 2023 speech at the National Farmers’ Union (NFU), when the now-Prime Minister pledged to forge “a new relationship with the countryside and farmers”. “Losing a farm is not like losing any other business, it can’t come back,” he said at the time.
NFU president Tom Bradshaw has been particularly outspoken on the issue, warning that Labour’s decision will further fuel a mental health crisis among farmers. His team has already been inundated with calls from elderly farmers who feel they are a “burden” on their families. “The feelings of anger, betrayal and despair are palpable,” he wrote in The Telegraph. “The family farm tax is exacerbating the mental health crisis that farmers are already facing.”
It is the latest in a series of blows to farmers’ mental wellbeing – the cherry on top of unpredictable weather, financial pressures, rural isolation and a lack of work-life balance. “We all worry about the weather, the markets and politics, but this is the most fundamental worry of all,” says David Exwood, the NFU’s deputy president. “All of a sudden, people’s opportunity to take on the family farm has been thrown into jeopardy. We know from our survey earlier in the year that farmer confidence was already at rock bottom, and this adds a whole new layer of concern.”
Heady’s standard working week is 70 hours. “During harvest, you would probably be up to 85 to 100-hour weeks,” he says. “In the winter and less busier time, I’ll be down to 50-hour weeks. You look at farm incomes and think, ‘Well, you know you’re getting the average salary.’ But if you work it out per hour, it’s well below the minimum wage.”
While he does not consider himself to have been depressed, he says “there was a time when I felt extremely stressed a lot of the time”. “I think with farming, a lot of people go home from work and they can switch off, whereas a lot of farmers live on their farm, so there’s no escaping it. They’re looking out of the window, and their troubles are still there.”
The looming tax raid has also affected the mental health of young people just entering the industry. “The future of food production is in question in this country in a way that it hasn’t been for more than a generation,” says Exwood. “There are real questions [for young people]: is there a future for me? Is it the right career? Am I making the right choices?”
Some 88 per cent of young farmers rated poor mental health as the biggest hidden problem faced by farmers today, according to research conducted in 2021 by the Yellow Wellies Farm Safety Foundation. The charity said farmers face a “unique set of stressors” when it comes to mental health.
Tilly Abbott, a 24-year-old shepherd, has witnessed this first hand. “It’s very hard to perceive as a member of the public that a lot of farms, although asset rich, are cash poor. A lot of them are really, really struggling, especially if you are a lone worker on your family farm.” Abbott herself was pushed “to the verge of a breakdown” by the stress of farming, and was devastated by the death of a friend who took his own life earlier this year.
“I spoke to him just two weeks before,” she says. “I think especially for younger men, they are under a lot of pressure – it is incredibly isolating and things are totally out of your control. On that day, there was a huge amount of flooding, and [he] got to breaking point.”
Emma Hollingsworth, also 24, farms near Ipswich, Suffolk, with her father. “I think everyone in the industry struggles with [their mental health] to a degree,” she says. “I went to Harper Adams [the agricultural university] and there were a few people who sadly took their own lives.” For her, the Budget has added “a lot of stress”. “It’s another thing to worry about, and losing a farm isn’t just losing a business, it’s losing your home.”
Previous research concluded that farmers have greater rates of mental-ill health and suicide than non-farmers. “Farmers are essentially working on their own all day,” says Stephanie Berkeley, the Farm Safety Foundation’s manager. Like Bradshaw, she is already receiving calls from farmers desperately worried about the implications of the Budget. But this crisis was building long before, she explains.
“They are at the mercy of the weather. They’re at the mercy of Government decisions completely out of their control, but also the rising costs in terms of energy. These are things that have been characterising the industry for the last three or four years,” she says.
“Rural isolation is a massive thing in the industry because when we talk about farmers, we aren’t [just] talking about large farms. A lot of them are farm families and these farmers can be out working everyday on their own with nobody else to speak to. It’s not a nine-to-five job. It’s not five days a week.”
The foundation’s research discovered that farmers under the age of 40 work an average of 60 hours per week, and 44 per cent of farmers between the ages of 41 and 60 work more than 80 hours per week. The financial pressure is constant.
“That’s always been an issue,” Berkeley says. “When the [EU’s] Common Agricultural Policy was no longer applicable, they didn’t know whether or not they were going to be able to make ends meet, pay their staff and pay their fees. A lot of farmers take out large loans to buy new stock, to buy new land and to improve their machinery. But if they’re actually not getting paid at the end of the day… that is a concern. Because farmers aren’t getting paid fairly for what they’re doing.”
Whether its economic volatility, the weather or cumbersome regulation, farmers have been worrying since day dot. But the acute sense of strain felt by many in recent days is something new altogether. “This is a direct consequence of the Chancellor and Government’s actions,” Berkeley adds. “Farmers feel there is no way out.”
A Government spokesman said: “The Government’s commitment to our farmers remains steadfast. It’s why we have committed £5 billion to the farming budget over two years – more money than ever for sustainable food production.
“We understand concerns about changes to Agricultural Property Relief and the Defra [Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs] Secretary of State and Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury met with NFU President Tom Bradshaw today.
“Ministers made clear that the vast majority of those claiming relief will not be affected by these changes. They will be able to pass the family farm down to their children just as previous generations have always done.
“This is a fair and balanced approach that protects the family farm while also fixing the public services that we all rely on. We remain committed to working with the NFU and listening to farmers.”
